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31 March 2016

I admit that sometimes I might be a little too keen to get rid of binders.
Maybe I'm a bit weird in that respect, but in the past it's been a way for me to enjoy some variety without owning too large a collection. I have owned a wonderful red A5 Ascot before, but sold it during a period when I'd decided that the A5 size wasn't for me.

I've since realised that it's always useful for me to own one A5, so I jumped at the chance to own another Ascot when I was offered one recently by the lovely Vanessa. In comparison to my previous one, it's a wonderful brown that reminds me of conkers due to the colour and the shine.

On the left hand side, there is a pen loop, full length zipped pocket, secretarial pocket, five credit card slots and a smaller slip pocket with 'Filofax A5/FSO Ascot made in the USA'.
On the right hand side, there is a slot for a notepad and another pen loop.

Like my previous one, this one has also had a visit to a local cobblers shop as the right hand pen loop had come undone and the bottom of the secretarial pocket had also come unstuck.

When I collected it, he very kindly didn't charge me anything as he says that he charges by his hourly rate and it was just a couple of dabs of glue. Since taking this and more use, the glue at the bottom of the pocket has come unstuck again, but it's not getting any worse. If it does, I may return to ask if he could put some extra stitching over the area.

He wasn't sure if he'd be able to fix the pen loop as the surface was very hard due to a previous fix, but after he removed some of the old glue was able to.

I'm quite happy with the 25mm capacity rings as personal size is my main binder, so I don't feel the need for larger rings in A5.

And finally some extra shots to compare the croc print with my personal Dundee.

06:00 - Using UPS to ship clothing
07:10 - The Travel List app
08:00 - What type of organiser/planner to use whilst away
09:50 - Collecting information about locations
10:40 - Using a Zipped organiser
11:30 - Don't check-in your planners
14:00 - Planning whilst you are away
14:30 - Journalling whilst you are away in a Travellers Notebook or Filofax
15:30 - House planner for the house sitter
17:00 - Travelling with a fountain pen - Uniball Vision Elite
18:45 - Trip to Belgium recently
20:15 - When you get back home
21:15 - Transferring notes to your main planner
24:20 - Collected business cards, what to do with them?
25:00 - Linkedin
25:50 - The correct size of planner for your trip is crucial.
26:20 - Use packing lists for the return trip as well.
27:25 - Use a travel wallet - Filofax Bromley Travel Wallet
29:33 - The end of this episode.

Episode 6 - Planners on the go - Travelling with your planner

A direct download is also available here: Episode6.mp3Presenters - Steve Morton and Karine Tovmassian

If you have ideas for future episodes please send them to steve at philofaxy dot com

Previous Episodes:Episode 5 - Why would you pay more than double the price of a Filofax?Episode 4 - Using Your Planner To Create Small and Permanent Habit Changes.Episode 3 - A Multi Plannerverse: Getting on with two or more planners.Episode 2 - Where to start your planning journey and why....Episode 1 - What size and why....

The timing of these two sessions have been chosen to hopefully allow as many people to join in compared to previous round-tables.

Do not worry if you aren't available at the start of one of our sessions each one lasts 2-3 hours so pop up when you are available and say hello.

Where? - an on-line chat using Skype. with voice and video (if you wish)

What do I need? - just a micro-phone and some head phones(in ear phones work fine) and a free Skype account. Using headphones or earphone reduces 'echo' on the call. Video is optional, but a few of us will be on video as well.

Who - All of you... connect up with Philofaxy and we will attempt to get as many of us linked in to the audio conference as possible. Come and listen if you don't want to chat. What do we talk about? Filofax stuff... but anything else as well. It's like long lost friends meeting up for coffee and a catch up.. but don't worry if you have never joined in before... you are an old friend too!

If you have any questions you want to ask then please let us know in the group or before we start.

How -

Connect to Philofaxy by firstly searching for Philofaxy in Skype, I will then add you as a contact.

Then 'Send Contact Request', I will then add you in to the chat room.

Then if you request it, I can add you to the audio conference as well. But if you just want to chat via keyboard that's fine. That way it's slightly less hectic for me!

Come and join in the fun, even if you only pop in to say hello... but don't be afraid to join in the discussion.

As with previous round-tables there will also be a parallel text chat room going at the same time as the voice conference, so you can listen to the voice chat and type if you wish, just mute your microphone in Skype

If you need any assistance setting up Skype, please pop a comment in this post and I will try and help you get one line. Skype is free for computer to computer calls....

Every single day since I received it! It's my primary binder dedicated to personal, family, home, and fitness. In the front, is my monthly/weekly schedules for the entire year and in the back are a variety of specialty sheets for bill tracking, goal planning, shopping lists, task lists, reference notes, and project worksheets. I work from home so the large size isn't a problem for me but it never leaves house--I use a personal-size planner for on-the-go.

5. Do you think the design could be improved in any way? How?

Yes, it needs LARGE pen loops! I'm a fountain pen user and had to incorporate a 'hack' to carry a large barrel fountain pen: I punched a thick, rigid piece of plastic, attached a pen loop--the ones you can pick up at any local office supply store with an adhesive backing--and added it as an insert.

For extra large fountain pens that might get in the way of the binder strap from closing, I'll slip the whole pen loop insert into the front half of the full back pocket with the pen loop pointing upward. I carry a thin ballpoint pen in the existing pen loop because it's all that'll fit in there. It's a feature that is severely lacking. If you're reading this Petra, please, please, PLEASE add larger pen loops, two if possible! :-)

26 March 2016

So now it is time to enjoy a great collection of blog posts from around the internet, so grab a drink and make yourself for our weekly round-up.
Here are some Philofaxy posts you might have missed this week:

We monitor over 400 blogs and sites, your Filofax/Organiser blog posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list.

We can not guarantee people will read your posts, but we know there is a higher chance of people reading your posts and returning to read other posts if you make them interesting with pictures and good hints and tips. Do not forget to give your posts a title...

Your Filofax/Organiser posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list.

25 March 2016

I have a recurring Planner Fantasy of using one Filofax binder for my whole life. It would be my constant companion throughout the years, and it would age alongside me.

In real life, I almost had this: my first real Filofax was a black Buckingham that I used for eight years almost continuously, through lots of big life changes (pregnancy, leaving work, having a baby, moving to a different country, having another baby, moving to another different country, etc.). That Filofax could have been my one-and-only lifetime Filo, but I wasn't a huge fan of the black color and wanted something more representative of my personality. About 30 binders later, I'm still searching for The One.

About this time last year I bought a vintage Sherwood Filofax thinking it would be my Binder For Life. I love the classic design and the soft calf leather. But it's so delicate I wouldn't feel good about subjecting it to the daily rigors of my hard-on-binders lifestyle. I think its previous owners must have felt the same way, because despite being more than 20 years old the Sherwood is still in pristine condition. I'm thrilled to have it as part of my collection, but my daily-use binder has to be more rugged.

I'm not sure why I have this idea to use one binder for life. I don't
think about using one wallet or carrying one bag for the rest of my
life. But a Filofax becomes my personal assistant and daily companion. I
am inspired by a story I read several years ago about an elderly
woman's Filofax that was stuffed and scuffed from decades of use. (You
can read that story about her Ostrich Filofax in one of the comments of this post, scroll down to the comment by Anonymous at 11:06.)

In reality, I don't think I could actually commit to a lifetime using
only one binder. I like planner variety, and switching out binder
colors, styles and sizes helps to satisfy my urge for newness. There are
so many beautiful binders out there, how could I ever commit to just
one?

But if I did choose just one binder to use forever, I think I would choose a custom Van der Spek binder in the Undyed leather. Janet Carr's photos of her Undyed binder over a period of more than a year show how the leather darkens gradually with age, and shows marks. I would love to see how the binder progressively changes over time, and ages alongside me.

If you could ever choose just one, what would be your for-life binder?

And as always on Fridays, feel free to discuss and/ or ask anything ring-binder related!

If you have ideas for future episodes please send them to steve at philofaxy dot com

Previous Episodes:Episode 4 - Using Your Planner To Create Small and Permanent Habit Changes.Episode 3 - A Multi Plannerverse: Getting on with two or more planners.Episode 2 - Where to start your planning journey and why....Episode 1 - What size and why....

23 March 2016

I was in conversation with someone in Toronto the other day and he was asking what it was I blogged about.... Oh no I thought what will they think... So I sent them the link to Philofaxy.

They came back with a link to a friend of theirs who had created a notebook/planner product. It is a customisable disc bound notebook/planner, but the way in which the discs are linked is different compared to the Arc disc bound books. So I went and had a look for myself and I was quite impressed with what I saw.

The brand name is William Hannah Ltd, they are based in England and their website is very detailed and I was able to message the company to get answers to one or two questions about the products and their responses came back very quickly.

The cover is made from Italian leather and is available in 5 different exterior colours and in total there are 15 different colour combinations of exterior/interior colour. The interior is in a suede finish. It looks well made and should last a life time.

The mechanism is based on a disc system but the discs are slotted on to a bar, this gives the system some rigidity not present in other disc binding systems and I think this is a definite improvement. The spacing is similar to the Staples Arc disc system but the holes in the paper are a slightly different shape. The discs are made with stainless steel so they won't rust.

The paper and inserts use good quality 100gsm paper. It is described as having a smooth finish, so it should accept fountain pen ink quite well. Naturally this will vary depending on the nib width and type of ink.

The number of inserts available include a week per page diary, undated week planners, lined paper, plain paper, graph and dotted pages, there is also a sample pack. These are all at very reasonable priced for A5 inserts on good quality paper.

21 March 2016

Since selling my A5 Amazona and Ascots (personal and A5), I realised that I do have a soft spot for croc print binders and missed having one. I wasn't specifically on the look out, but was surprised when I managed to pick a black personal Dundee up for a good price on eBay. I have enjoyed Janet's post about her green one and the Sewing Sloth's. I am a bit behind with my posts for here as I've been in my Dundee since purchasing it last autumn.

The leather is soft, slightly padded and it has some structure which I prefer in my personal sized binders. Like the personal Ascot, it has a very slim profile which I like and lies flat.

The seller described it as having 'a nice patina' on the eBay listing, but that translated in real life to a bit beaten up! I gave it a wipe with a damp cloth, put on some neatsfoot oil and finally a small amount of black shoe polish to help restore the colour. I'm really pleased with the results as the leather seemed to appreciate the TLC and now looks great.

Of all the binders that I've owned, I think this is my preferred layout.
On the left hand side, there are eight credit card slots, with a full length pocket behind with a pen loop. On the right, there is a full length zipped pocket, another full length slip pocket in front and a pen loop. The two pen loops are very handy and I like that the zipper part of the right pocket is covered up.
More info and other colours on the Filowiki.

Whilst I'm a big Ascot fan, I think that I actually prefer the layout and print on this Dundee which I wasn't expecting. It holds lots, will wear well and I can use it as a wallet.

20 March 2016

I’ve been using organisers for about 30 years, and generally change them as often as I have hot dinners! So it’s something of a record that I’ve used my custom standard Van der Spek binder for just over a year without interruption. It’s brandy outside, mandarin inside, with contrasting stitching. Ironically, I am thinking about moving into a senior Touch Me in the new year to see whether the pockets configuration suits me better – I could keep my iPhone in there – which would mean the custom binder would live on my sofa and house the kind of info you want in one place. And I could pick it up and squidge it often! But I’ve just ordered a flyleaf in the colour combination with a pocket on the front, so don’t hold your breath for any changes …

2. How long have you owned it?

I bought it last November. My Dad, who’s never quite sure what to buy me for Christmas, gave me money. It was no contest what I spent it on.

3. What is it that you like about it so much?

The quality and the colours … Van der Spek’s outstanding work and customer service has now made me very picky about where I buy organisers from – it’s either them or pocket-sized ones from Japanese craftswoman Akiko. Filofax, please take note!

4. Do you use it all the time?

Yes. It gets thrown in and out of the car, chucked into bags and bounced on and off desks. It still looks pristine!

5. Do you think the design could be improved in any way? How?

I think I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of choice, so I chose the colours and went with the normal design. In retrospect, I wish I’d gone for a secretarial flap in the front, and also done away with most of the credit card slots, which I don’t use much, in favour of maybe two or three wider horizontal pockets. I’m freelance, and want to be able to store business cards in the front pockets, but the present size won’t take my bigger cards, and the smaller ones are difficult to fish out quickly. But it’s a minor issue in the scheme of things.

19 March 2016

So now it is time to enjoy a great collection of blog posts from around the internet, so grab a drink and make yourself for our weekly round-up.
Here are some Philofaxy posts you might have missed this week:

We monitor over 400 blogs and sites, your Filofax/Organiser blog posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list.

We can not guarantee people will read your posts, but we know there is a higher chance of people reading your posts and returning to read other posts if you make them interesting with pictures and good hints and tips. Do not forget to give your posts a title...

Your Filofax/Organiser posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list.

18 March 2016

I have a confession, I am not using a Filofax as my main planner currently.
For some reason, I've been feeling a bit all over the place with unprocessed notes and half finished scribblings everywhere. I have set up a pocket Moleskine with lots of lists, with my A5 Ascot still in use for planning projects and for making notes.

I have thought before that the combination of the flexibility of a ringed binder used alongside a bound notebook could work for me. However, I suppose I haven't wanted to mess with a set up that normally works. I know that eventually I will move back into a personal sized binder, but I think I'm actually enjoying the restriction that a notebook creates right now. I think that sometimes it's too easy for me to start something on an insert, get distracted and forget to go back to it.

Have you recently been tempted to completely change your set up?

And as it's Friday, please feel free to discuss anything related to organisers and relevant topics.

17 March 2016

After talking with people at the meet up last weekend and listening to their comments, a radical thought slipped in to my mind on the journey home.

Did we start a renaissance in paper planning?

Think back about 5 or even 10 years and there wasn't the same level of social media usage, the same amount of activity on blogs or You Tube.

In the last 5 years I think you will agree that we have certainly seen a massive interest in paper planning, or an increased awareness of it. Not just in ring bound organisers but in paper planners in general terms.

Now if you look at how the commercial companies have reacted to this increase in levels of activity.

Filofax have just about managed to keep things ticking over they are still seen as the big seller in the organiser market. Their market share though has reduced in the last couple of years.

However, their dominance is being attacked at all price levels with companies coming in to the market such as Kikki K, Websters, Paperchase all producing colourful organisers at the lower price range.

The discovery of Gillio and Van der Spek at the luxury end of the market has also made people think about spending money with Filofax in the hundreds of Dollars, Pounds, Euros price brackets.

Did we start a revolution? Have we saved a few companies from going out of business, or at least saved them from stopping organiser production/sales. And with the increased activity in the world of social media have we encouraged new companies to come in to the market?

I wouldn't claim to have done this singled handed... no it has come out of a lot of mutual co-operation and a lot of networking and bringing people together to share their love and passion for paper planning.

I looked around the restaurant on Saturday evening and thought. Who would have thought that all these people would have come together to share so much laughter and so much shared values more than 5 years ago?

More than 5 years ago you would never have thought that your organiser was the key to the growth of your circle of friends! It just makes me smile and happy to think what a wonderful community we have created.

16 March 2016

I have done more meet ups over the years than I can count, I honestly can't remember what the total is now, but this last weekends meet up in Brussels is going to be one that I am not going to forget in a hurry.

Meet ups are not just about looking at other peoples planners and enjoying good food together, they have become quite a social occasion with lots of fun and laughter and dozens of photos of course!

The organiser/planner is just the thing that links all the people together in a way. I've always found the experience of a meet up difficult to describe to others that have never attended one. They are very special in a lot of ways.

On Thursday, I travelled to Brussels by train via Paris, the idea of going early was to help out the team on the Friday and also to make sure there were no last minute travel problems. After all it is not like I have to 'take a day off work' !!

My plan was nearly doomed when the French TGV trains stopped running for a 24 hour strike on the Wednesday. The strike ended at 08:00 on the Thursday morning and my train that left at 09:07 left on time and I got to Paris in good time. A quick journey on the Paris Metro and once I was through security I was on my next Thalys train heading for Brussels.

I knew a lot of the people attending the meet up from previous events or from Facebook, but it was lovely to meet new people as well. Some were relatively local, but some of the people attending had travelled some considerable distances (USA East and West Coast)

Enough of introductions, I'm sure you all want to know about what was announced at the main event on the Saturday.

Gillio listen to their customers and at their regular staff meetings they bring together these ideas and discussions and they discuss these ideas with their artisans in Italy, what can be made and when. Prototypes are made and tested out before items are put in to full production.

One colour in the palette of leather colours that was discontinued has been re-introduced. It is a yellow leather, Gillio colour number 771. After several trial hides they managed to get a very close match to the previous colour. They have produced a whole range of items in this leather and these will go on sale later this week, see the Gillio website for full details.

And here is a comparison in daylight (afternoon sun hence the long shadows) with top left my Gillio Wallet in Gold, top right a Gillio A6 in Rust and the two items at the bottom are in Gillio Yellow (771)

Gillio also announced some new bags which will go on sale also later this week, here is a sneak peek of them whilst they were still on the shelves. They are in tri-colours that match their other leather items in these same colours. Full details will be on the Gillio website by the end of the week.

Theresa trying out the bags to see which one she likes best... so difficult to choose

Finally Gillio revealed the Appunto notebook covers in A5 and A6 sizes in five colours initially. Although I suspect the colour range will expand over time.

This product was a classic example of interaction with their customers who have gone from ring bound to Hobonichi type bound planners, but still wanting to use a high quality leather cover.

Looking at the design in detail it is similar in a lot of ways to a ring bound planner with a full suite of pockets, just no rings in it.

This is the A6 model.

Note the full width back pocket

The internal pocket layout is similar in someways to the Filofax Holborn

The A5 is the same design just a few extra credit card/business card slots in the left hand inside front cover. The Auppunto will also go on sale later this week, see the Gillio website for full details on availability and prices etc

We all got a turn to have our photos taken for 'Gilliobook' I did check it first to make sure it didn't say 'Wanted for serious enabling offences' !!

As you might know I'm one of the admin team on the Gillio Facebook groups and whilst I had met Kariné Tovmassian before face to face apart from on Skype in Washington, this was the first time she had met Mella and Christina the other admins. Kariné had travelled over from USA with her husband Bobby. So we had to have a photograph or two together...

Steve, Mella, Chrissie and Karine in front

Then this happened.... well it was my birthday!

We moved on to a restaurant outside of Brussels for lovely meal and more talking and discussions...

Paul Van Haelen gave a speech to thank everyone for coming along and read out some quotes from the Facebook Groups, which were all very amusing. But before he could sit back down I leapt in to action and informed him that we were both members of a very exclusive 'club' in fact I think he might be the only member of this 'exclusive club' in Belgium. He looked at me a little confused at first.

Then I presented him with a copy of the book and a certificate of membership for the Dull Members Club of Great Britain and pointed out my own entry in the book! He took it in good humour...phew!

There was of course a Planner Tower to build.... carefully and without it collapsing!

Mella asked me to join her again and announced that they had a very special gift for me from everyone at Gillio for my birthday and also for all the work I had done in the planner community... I for once was totally lost for words when I opened my present. Here it is in day light at home, it is a Gillio A6 organiser in the new yellow leather, but how special is the front cover.

I immediately put some blank page in to it and a pen in the pen loop and passed it around the people and they all wrote some lovely messages in it.

No (birthday) party is complete without goodie bags to take home? Once again Mella and the Gillio team shocked us all by handing out some goodie bags with some lovely gifts in them.

Finally I will go back to Friday evening, Mella had hosted a party and after our food she asked me to stand with her and she explained that for some time there had been some confusion between me Steve Morton and Steve Benois.

In the past I have received messages asking me when they might be receiving their order or had I processed their refund yet. Someone even pointed out on the group, 'Did you know Steve Morton is on the pay roll now, his email address is steve@gillio.eu' !!!! Err... news to me!

At this point I was given a t shirt... and Steve #NotMorton appeared in his t shirt! So funny...

Thank you to everyone who made this weekend a very special one for me and for everyone else who attended the events over the weekend. Lots and lots of happy memories to think back over.